Recs

I hesitated to even include recs on my website, because I don’t want anyone to feel slighted if I haven’t recommended their work. But, in the end, this is my space, so…

The tabs contain a very tiny subset of the stories I truly think are great. These are just a few that impacted me deeply for some reason. Perhaps they incepted me into a fandom or maybe introduced me to an amazing author. They may have made me cry, or laugh or rail at the moon. Some of them I could only bear to read once, and some I read over and over and over again.

There are no WIPs on this page. One of my favorite NCIS stories ever is a WIP, but I decided to only rec completed works. There are also no recs to stories that are locked in some way (I don’t consider site registration a lock, but if you have to jump through hoops or get approved on a friends list, I won’t put the rec on this page). I don’t count pure fusions as a crossover, so bear that in mind if my organization doesn’t make sense.

(as of the moment this page was created, I only had a few on here. The list will grow.)

More soon…

updated 2/6/15 with new HP rec

updated 2/17/15 with Teen Wolf rec

updated 2/20/15 with SG:A Rec and Star Trek: AOS

updated 1/10/17 to add tabs

Authors I’d recommend. Coming soon.

Crossovers

Why? LitGal is one of my favorite writers. She worships the geeks, and I do love me some geek. But the reason I recommend this story above all others is because of Jack. She writes the best Jack voice I’ve ever run across. This story is as much about Jack’s evolving mentor relationship with Xander as it is about Xander/Daniel. All the character voices are rich, and the story is paced beautifully. You don’t need to know much about either fandom to follow the story (though if you know nothing at all about either, it could be an odd fit for you).

Note: this story has the aliens made them do it trope. Everyone on base is horny and fucking due to the influence of an alien device. It’s the first scene. If that kind of trope bugs you, skip this.

You can’t go wrong with anything of Lady Ra’s, but this is by far my favorite. For starters, it’s Tony-centric, which I love. Then it’s original, and well paced, and the characterizations are lovely, and the relationship is beautiful, and and and… It’s pretty much perfect in every way. Add in Clint/Phil and it’s something I re-read a LOT.

It’s all about Tony for me. I started reading Tony/Gibbs in my early NCIS days, but I actually prefer Tony with other characters. Usually men. The Mothership is Tony/Steve McGarrett.

Why? Probably one of the best love stories I’ve ever read. It’s beautifully crafted, and the fusion with His Dark Materials is brilliant. The way Xanthe writes Tony in this story is one of my favorite portrayals. It’s slow build, but it’s so worth it.

You can’t go wrong with anything of Lady Ra’s, but this is by far my favorite. For starters, it’s Tony-centric, which I love. Then it’s original, and well paced, and the characterizations are lovely, and the relationship is beautiful, and and and… It’s pretty much perfect in every way. Add in Clint/Phil and it’s something I re-read a LOT. I rec’d it under Crossovers since it’s both NCIS and MCU centric, but it belongs on my NCIS list, too. I’ll put any Tony-centric fics here.

There’s not enough of this pairing out there. This story is my go-to for when I need a fix. It’s quite different from any other fic I’ve read in that fandom and is a take on both their characterizations that I really enjoy. Picks up pretty much right after the Chronicles of Riddick, and ignores anything subsequent in canon.

My ships are broad in HP. I tend to prefer Harry/Draco fics, but have enjoyed many other pairings in the HP fandom. My writing perferences in HP are dramatically different from my reading preferences.

One of my favorite tropes is intelligent, independent and thoughtful Harry. It totally bums me out when an author explores this characterization and yet doesn’t explore changes to canon. That’s NOT an issue with this lovely story. Original Tempus manages the ripples of this characterization masterfully. It’s a beautiful work. Arc 1 focuses on first year and is finished, so that’s what’s linked. There’s at least a start on Arc 2. What are you waiting for? Go read!

This is one of the first stories I read by Keira, and it’s one of my favorite HP stories of all time. I love independent, strong, thoughtful Harry, and this story is pretty much how I like to see him characterized. The relationship with Draco evolves beautifully. This story pretty much converted me to Harry/Draco ship. She has an eBook version available, but you’ll need to register for her site to download it.

The Hobbit

First off, *sniffle*. I can’t read this story without crying. Multiple times. It’s not that it’s sad, it’s just… well… feels. It’s a different take on the fix-it AU. Bilbo dies in the BotFA and is reborn (none of that is a spoiler, it right in the title and summary). It’s eventually Kili/Bilbo, but most of the story is young Bilbo’s journey. Even if it’s not your ship, give it a try, because it’s awesome. Also, all of Starkindler’s fics are great, this just happens to be my favorite.

I love sentinel fusions, and this surprised me by being one of my favorites of that genre, because I didn’t expect to like The Hobbit fused with The Sentinel. But it’s dynamite. It’s an AU where Thorin comes online when Smaug attacks and calls out for his guide. Guess who that is? It’s a beautiful story from start to finish and all the characters are well drawn. Even if you aren’t terribly familiar with The Sentinel, you should have no problems following this story. (side note: the casting for Elladan and Elrohir have become my head canon, dammit.)

This story was a tear-jerker for me. Bilbo has a bad heart and lives with Gandalf. Heading to see an elven healer, they journey along with thirteen dwarves headed for Erebor. I haven’t run across anything else quite like it in the fandom, and I didn’t think I’d enjoy it. I did a complete 180 on this story. Bilbo’s bucket list will break your heart, so keep the tissues handy.

Cabbage Patch Dwobbits. Need I say anything else? I love everything about this story. I don’t want to give spoilers, but it’s a great read. (I had mentioned above that I won’t recommend WIPs. This is a series, and the last book in the series is unfinished. Because at least one book is done, I’m okay with listing it.)

Star Trek: AOS

I don’t read much in this fandom, but after reading Tangled Destines I’m reconsidering. Keira has a way of bringing the characters to life and giving them new dimension that is just riveting. And it’s my head-canon for Kirk. Plus her Amanda is everything I want a female character to be; totally bad ass, but still authentically female. You don’t need to know Star Trek to follow this story, so don’t let an unfamiliar fandom get in your way of the hours of fun you’ll have with this fic.

Stargate: Atlantis

My favorite SGA story. Because… Tigers! As I mentioned above, Lady Ra is just stellar no matter what she writes, but if I could recommend only one of her SGA, it’d have to be this one. I love her other stories and crossovers with the Stargate franchise as well. Tigers!!

I knew when I put this page up, I’d pick a Keira story for SG:A. The hard part is picking which one! Keira has an amazing selection of SG:A stories, but I dithered and flip-flopped until I settled on this one for my SG:A pick. Why? It’s hands down the best exploration of the sentient!Atlantis trope, which is a favorite of mine. The characterizations are lovely and the pacing is wonderful.

Coming soon. This would be pure sentinel stories, not fusions in other fandoms.

Favorite Sentinel fusion stories. Coming soon.

I really like Stiles, so it’s hard for me to imagine reading a story that doesn’t have him featued in some way, but I really enjoy a lot of the other characters as well.

I hadn’t seen even a single episode of Teen Wolf when I read this fic, so you don’t need to know anything about the show to follow it. All I did was look up some cast photos so I had a visual in my head. I read it initially because I’d fallen in love with Starkindler’s body of work and was willing to try an unknown fandom. I love this story. All the characters are beautifully drawn, and the plot is engaging and original. This is the story that incepted me into the Teen Wolf fandom. I read it all the time now. I watched two episodes of the show. Fandom is way better!

It’s all about Alex Krycek. I’ve read so many great X-Files stories over the years. The fandom has pretty much died, but it was an amazingly talented group of authors.

This story is heartbreaking. Mulder switches places with a Mulder from another reality (parallel universe, whatever you want to all it). In the other reality, instead of being enemies with Krycek, they’re in a happy relationship. It winds up being a painful view into what his life could have been if he’d made different choices. I usually only rec stories that eventually end well. Without giving too much away, I’ll say that this one ends poignantly but with hope.

X-Files was my first fandom, so I had to include a couple of my favorites from there. I was a Krycek-centric reader, so all my X-File recs, save one, would feature him. This story is beautifully written and angsty. Very canon-focused, so probably helps to know X-Files fairly well, especially the early seasons.

6 comments

I need to update the page with some of my old favorites—especially in the NCIS fandom. But in terms of newer stuff, I admit, I haven’t read much lately that’s knocked my socks off. 2016 wound up being the year of backing out of fics. It was kind of sad how bad my karma was in regards to selecting stories to read. Of the stories I tried last year, I’d guess that I made it to the end of less than 15% of them. There are probably some great fics that I missed, but my story-selector seems to be broken. Here’s hoping it’s better in the coming year! 😉

ETA: I did read some good fics last year, and I don’t mean to imply that there were none, but I tend to recommend stories that are very impactful to me in some way. I may be forgetting something, though!

I’m sad that you didn’t find new great fics last year. Your recommendations have really helped me a lot. I started reading The Hobbit (after being sure I wouldn’t) after reading some of Keira’s Evil Author Day pieces last year, because anything she writes is worth reading. But then I was scared to wade into that fandom because of the volume and trying to search for the gold in the dross. Your recs were great and I learned to love Hobbit stories. So thank you very much.